This book features illustrations of Western technology and architecture, accompanied by stories and anecdotes in Chinese. The illustrations were drawn by Wu Youru (吴有如), who was considered one of the most prolific and famous “newspainter” in the late Qing period.Wu created illustrations for Dianshizhai Pictorial 点石斋画报 (1884-1898), an extremely popular supplement of Shen Bao (申报)—a Chinese newspaper founded by British entrepreneur Ernest Major in Shanghai.Such publications were meant to introduce western knowledge and technology to a Chinese audience craving for more information.
